


don't ever set me aside with the things that you don't need

by bothsexuals



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Episode: s04e03 Conventions Of Space And Time, First Kiss, Jealousy, M/M, This is canon now, and then more kisses, troy is gay britta is a lesbian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:54:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25203544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bothsexuals/pseuds/bothsexuals
Summary: “It’s like I always say, Troy,” Britta said, “if you love someone, set them free, and if they don’t come back to you, they were never yours to begin with.”“I know he’s not mine,” Troy answered sadly, “I don’t need any more proof of that. The problem is I’m still his. I’m always going to be.”or: Inspecticon, but make it gayer.
Relationships: Annie Edison & Abed Nadir, Troy Barnes & Britta Perry, Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir, just a little bit of abedannie but its my fic so it couldnt not be there
Comments: 29
Kudos: 194





	don't ever set me aside with the things that you don't need

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the dpngc. I love you guys! Thanks for helping me figure this bad boy out, you're the best. 
> 
> Title from Lizzie No's "Please Don't Change Your Mind". Enjoy!

“I can’t believe it,” Troy said in awe, “our first Inspecticon.” 

He looked around the huge convention center, filled to the brim with people of all genders dressed as their favorite characters. They all looked amazing, but none looked as wonderful as Abed did- that was just a fact. The man was a better Inspector than the one in the show- he couldn’t say this to Abed, he’d call it blasphemy, but Troy knew his truth. 

“Are you sure it’s cool that Britta’s here?” he continued, “Cause she can just go wait in the car.” 

He’d gotten closer to her lately, since he’d figured out those fuzzy feelings he got whenever he was around Abed, or even just thinking about him, were love. He’d blurted it out to her and she’d said, “Cool, dude, I’m a lesbian,” then added, “Don’t tell Pierce- I don’t want him to know he was right,” and they’d only gotten closer since then.

At the same time, he’d tried to distance himself from Abed a bit. Not a lot, but he’d gotten his own room and started to have a few more side adventures, mostly with Britta or Annie- though the ones with Annie almost always ended up including Abed since he was her best friend too. It went against his nature, choosing to be away from Abed, and it hurt him to his very core, but he couldn’t risk blurting out his love for him and ruining the best thing in his life. He just couldn’t. 

“It’s cool,” Abed replied while Britta gasped, offended, and Annie raised her eyebrows, “now, the first thing we need to do is find the booth where they take the gluon photo.”

“It’s a photo where two people are fused together like the Inspector and Reggie were bonded for eternity in episode 704,” Troy explained to Annie and Britta.

“Sounds gay,” Britta mumbled, then her eyes wandered to something behind Troy and she gasped. “Wait, is that a female inspector?” 

“Yes, and everyone hates her. Not because they’re sexist, but because she sucks.” Abed looked thoughtful for a second. “Okay, some of them are sexist, but the second female Inspector was way better.”

Britta gasped delightedly, “There’s another one?” 

Troy nodded, “There’s also a nonbinary Constable.”

“A lot of people hated them, but that was just transphobia, they were really cool,” Abed commented. 

“Hey, is that the booth?” Annie asked, pointing a few booths down. 

Troy squinted to read the Gluon Chamber sign, and nodded excitedly, then frowned. 

“Abed, the line looks really long, we should probably get in it now.” 

“Definitely,” Abed said, but he sounded weirdly distracted, “right after I find Toby.”

“Who’s Toby?” Troy asked. He hoped Abed hadn’t noticed the way his voice had cracked. 

“Toby Weeks,” Abed explained, still not looking at Troy, but instead searching for this Toby dude, “arguably the biggest _Inspector Spacetime_ fan in the world. We’ve been emailing for months.” 

“You just- you never mentioned him,” Troy said. 

“We talked about embracing change, so I’m expanding my social circle,” Abed said with a shrug. His eyes widened and he pointed at the man who was approaching them, with a soft gasp that sounded too much like awe not to break Troy’s heart a little. “There he is!”

“You must be Abed,” the man greeted him, and they both tipped their hats as he said, “Inspector.” 

Troy knew he was staring. He also knew he was staring with one of those if-looks-could-kill kind of looks. He couldn’t bring himself to pretend that he was fine with this. 

“This is Britta,” Abed said, pointing towards her, “my best friend Annie-” he pointed at her, then switched to Troy “-and my best friend _Troooy!_ ”

Okay, the excitement in Abed’s voice as he introduced him made Troy feel a little bit better. He extended his hand for Toby to shake, but the man looked away, completely ignoring him, so he retracted it, trying to act cool and casual about it. Who the heck did this dude think he was?

“Hey, uh,” Troy said, leaning a bit closer to Abed- damn, he smelled good. Wait, Troy was getting off track. “Gluon line, we should probably get in there now.” 

“Or, alternatively, someone might just happen to have a pair of tickets to the sold-out panel: _Which Inspector would win in a fight in space, and which Inspector would win in a fight in time?_ ” Toby spoke up, flashing the tickets in Abed’s face. 

Troy stared at his best friend, frowning. He looked really enticed. He was going to choose this… random british dude over him. Okay. Sure. Cool. 

“We can get that photo later,” Abed said, only giving Troy a quick, mindless glance. 

Troy smiled- it was so obviously forced it hurt, but Abed didn’t notice. He wasn’t looking anyways. 

He stared at Abed’s back as he walked away with _Toby_ , not Troy, and could feel Britta and Annie’s eyes boring into him. 

  


***

  


Annie had gone off somewhere- he wasn’t sure where, but he’d seen her wave at someone he didn’t think she knew, then she had walked away and he’d lost her. Britta was still with Troy, and they were sitting opposite Abed and fucking _Toby_ eating slices of pizza. 

Britta’s eyes were darting between the three of them, sensing Troy’s obvious unease as he almost took a bite from his pizza- he stopped halfway, seeing both Abed and Toby eating their slices with a fork and knife. What the hell? Who ate pizza like that? Everyone knew pizza tasted a hundred times better when you ate it with your hands. This dude sucked. 

Abed spoke suddenly, not looking at Troy, not even once. 

“Toby, did you see-” 

“-the Christmas special? Horrible.” 

“But, when you consider what it set up-”

“-brilliant.” 

Troy opened his mouth to say something, maybe contribute to the conversation to show Abed that _hey, dude, remember me? Your best friend? Yeah, still here._ Before he could, Abed looked somewhere to the side, and Toby quickly followed his gaze. Troy couldn’t tear his own gaze away from Abed, despite how much it broke his heart that Abed wasn’t looking back at him.

“Is that-?”

“Let’s go.”

Abed and Toby stood up and quickly left the table without another word. 

“But… what about the photo?” Troy called after them, miserably and to no avail. They were already gone. 

“Do they even have to talk?” Britta quipped, “they could just… touch tentacles and download.” 

“You know, this is good,” Troy said, a little too quickly and high-pitched for anyone to actually believe him, “because, you know, Abed’s branching out, and Toby is… really, really great.” 

“No, Troy, I’ve seen that look,” Britta cut in, “guys have given me that look. You are not being crazy, that dude is trying to steal your boyfriend.” She grabbed her cup and announced, “I’m gonna go get a refill,” before standing up and leaving Troy to deal with what she had just told him. 

His face fell, and his heart dropped in his chest. Toby was trying to steal Abed from him. And if Abed’s behaviour that day was anything to go off of, he was succeeding. And it was all Troy’s fault, because he’d been the one to distance himself from Abed, because he was so afraid of losing him by being honest. Now he was losing him anyways, and he’d never even had the chance to tell Abed how much he meant to him. 

He hadn’t corrected Britta when she’d called Abed his boyfriend. He’d let himself believe that was real, just for a short moment. It felt pretty nice. 

“Troy?” Britta said, sitting back down, “You alright, man?” 

“No!” Troy exclaimed, his face scrunching up angrily as tears welled in his eyes, “What if Abed wants to replace me? It makes me so angry and sad all at the same time!”

“I know, but you have to hide it, because if you freak out it’s only gonna push Abed further away,” Britta unhelpfully interjected. 

Troy stood up, leaving his forgotten pizza behind, and Britta grabbed her drink and scrambled after him. 

“I already pushed him away! I’m so stupid! I should have just told him I’m in love with him. Now he’s gonna- he’s gonna start hanging out with this Toby dude and he’s gonna start dating one of those pretty blonde girls who always flirt with him and I’m just gonna be alone.” He was fully sobbing now. People were staring as they walked by, but Troy didn’t care. He was losing the most important person in his life, nothing else mattered.

“It’s like I always say, Troy,” Britta said, “if you love someone, set them free, and if they don’t come back to you, they were never yours to begin with.” 

“I know he’s not mine,” Troy answered sadly, “I don’t need any more proof of that. The problem is I’m still his. I’m always going to be.” 

Britta’s expression softened, and she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, prompting him to stop walking and look at her. 

“Honey, you haven’t lost all hope yet,” she said softly, “you can still tell him. You’re his best friend, he’s not just going to leave you for some bald british dude! You know what, I’ll sneak you into that dumb panel, you just gotta play it cool and make nice with Toby. Everything’s gonna be alright.”

Troy nodded slowly, taking a few deep breaths. “Alright,” he breathed, and slowly repeated, “play it cool, make nice with Toby.” 

Britta smiled reassuringly and raised both hands to give him a thumbs-up, which Troy returned a little unsurely. 

“Yeah,” he said, mostly talking to himself, “I’m not losing Abed. I’m not losing the love of my life, even if I can’t have him like that.” 

“That’s the spirit!” Britta exclaimed, enthusiastically slapping his shoulder, then furrowed her brows. “...Kind of,” she muttered. 

  


***

  


Troy quietly entered the already ongoing panel, his eyes immediately finding Abed, as they always did. Usually, though, Abed would be looking back at him. 

He made his way over to them- Abed thankfully had an empty seat next to him- and sat down, crossing his legs casually. 

“Oh hey, there you guys are,” he chipperly said, “well, isn’t this nice, just three friends, friending around all untreathened-like!” 

“I’m terribly sorry,” Toby said, “this is slightly embarrassing, I seem to have forgotten your name.” 

It wasn’t Toby’s words that got to him- okay, those too, a little, but mostly it was the way Abed had leaned closer to him when he’d spoken. Closer to him, and away from Troy. 

“It’s Troy!” he yelled, standing up in an uncontrollable fit of anger, “You know it’s Troy! It’s the first part of Troy-and-Abed! _Toby and Abed in the morning_?! That’s ridiculous! I’m not jealous!” He stopped, his chest heaving and his heart racing.

Everyone was looking at him, he knew this, but it didn’t matter, because Abed wasn’t. Abed was staring straight ahead, as if none of this had happened. As if it had meant nothing. 

“Sorry,” he mumbled, to Abed and only Abed. “I uh- I love you, buddy.” 

He didn’t stick around for an answer- he didn’t think Abed would give one anyways. Instead, he just left. 

  


***

  


Troy was pretending to look at some _Inspector Spacetime_ gadgets and what-nots, trying really hard not to cry, when Britta found him again. 

“Oh, honey,” she sighed, “you went all jealous boyfriend on Abed, didn’t you?” 

“Yeah,” he said, the unshed tears so clearly audible in his voice, “I screwed up. Classic Troy.” 

“It’s okay,” Britta tried to comfort him, “it happens to the best of us.” 

“He’s never gonna want me after this,” he muttered, “I embarrassed him in front of all those _Inspector Spacetime_ people. He probably hates me.”

“He could never hate you, Troy, he loves you,” Britta retorted. 

“Not the way I love him,” Troy said. “Sometimes I thought, maybe- maybe he felt the same. But after this? He’s not gonna want anything to do with me.”

“Troy, everyone’s not gonna give up on you so easily,” Britta said, “especially not Abed. Just go to him. Tell him how you feel.”

Troy nodded slowly. What did he have to lose, after all? He should put all his cards on the table, and let Abed choose how to play the next round- or whether to play it at all. 

“I’m gonna find him,” he said resolutely, “I’m gonna find him and I’m going to tell him everything.” He smiled. “I’m going to tell the man of my dreams I love him, Britta.”

He hugged her quickly, then went off to find Abed. 

“Hell yeah,” Britta shouted after him, “go get your man!” 

  


***

  


He found Toby relatively quickly, but Abed was nowhere to be seen. 

“Toby,” he muttered, clenching his fists as if preparing for a fight, “where’s Abed?” 

“He’s packing,” Toby calmly replied, “he said you have a girlfriend and don’t need him anymore. He’s coming with me to England.” 

Troy scoffed. “I don’t have a girlfriend, and you’re lying.” 

“How would you know?” Toby challengingly asked. 

“Because Abed’s my best friend, and he would have told me. And he would have explained it to me in very clear terms, because I get confused sometimes.” He pointed to one of the X-7 Dimensionizers next to them. “He’s in there, isn’t he?” 

Toby scoffed unconvincingly, “No!” 

“Hey, Troy,” came Abed’s surprisingly calm voice from inside it. 

“Hey, Abed,” Troy replied, then quickly turned back to Toby with his fight-face on. “Hey, Toby, you know what happens to people who lock the man I’m in love with in tiny enclosed spaces?” He raised his hand, slowly making a fist, and raised an eyebrow. “You ever been in a fight?” 

Toby gasped, “Oh my god, he can make a fist. That would hurt harder than a slap.” He grimaced and gestured to the X-7 Dimensionizer. “He’s in that one!” 

“I know that,” Troy mumbled as he walked away, then opened the phone box to reveal Abed standing there, a small smile on his face. 

“You okay?” Troy asked breathily. 

“I am,” Abed replied, “you know, for the first time of my long history of being locked inside things, I knew someone would come.”

“I’ll always come for you, Abed,” Troy said, “I promise.” 

Abed nodded, his smile unfaltering, and walked out of the phone box. 

“You’re in love with me?” he asked.

Troy could hear the hope in his voice- he’d learned to pick up on every slight change in Abed’s tone- and it felt exhilarating. 

“I am,” he replied.

Abed nodded. “Cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool. I am, too.” 

“Oh,” Troy breathed. His heart felt like it was going to explode. “Wow.” 

Abed’s smile grew a little bigger. 

“Still wanna take the gluon photo?” he asked. 

“What do you think?” Troy asked in a low voice, his mouth curved in a toothy grin. 

Abed studied him carefully and tentatively said, “Yes?”

“Yes,” Troy confirmed. 

They both raised their hands and quickly tapped their chest and each other’s hand twice. Before Abed could pull his hand away, Troy closed his fingers around it and used it to pull Abed close, so close their chest were flush together and he could feel the way Abed’s breath had faltered on his face. 

“One more thing,” he whispered, and leaned in to kiss Abed, cupping one of his cheeks with his free hand. 

He felt Abed melt into the kiss, felt the way his body relaxed instantly and his lips moved easily against Troy’s own, as if they had always been meant to do just that. He felt Abed’s pleasured sigh more than he heard it, and the feeling of it made him lose his cool just a little bit- he didn’t realize how much until he heard a low sound leave his throat, and Abed’s hold on him suddenly changed into something much more passionate as he turned them around and pressed Troy against the X-7 Dimensionizer he had been trapped in until minutes before. 

Abed’s lips left his, causing a whine to escape Troy, but they quickly found the side of Troy’s neck instead, and started pressing soft kisses there- okay, Troy would have to go full jealous boyfriend more often if this was the result. 

He allowed himself to get lost in the feeling of Abed’s lips on his skin, allowed his fingers to tangle in Abed’s hair -causing his hat to fall to the ground, but neither of them could bring themselves to care-, allowed his breath to get a little labored, until he heard a fucking Blorgon sound from somewhere near them, and remebered where they were. 

“Abed, buddy,” he mumbled, “we’re still in a pretty public place.”

Abed jumped away from Troy at the speed of light, as if he’d suddenly been burnt, and Troy immediately missed him. 

“Sorry,” he muttered quickly, “I forgot.” 

Troy quirked an eyebrow. “You forgot you were at Inspecticon,” he said with a smug grin, “because you were kissing me?” 

“Yes,” Abed replied, “don’t make a big deal out of it.”

Troy didn’t relent, his smile growing bigger by the second. “You forgot you were at the convention you waited _months_ for, because you were kissing little old me?”

“Shut up,” Abed mumbled, but a smile had formed on his face, “let’s go take that photo.” 

“Mhm, yeah, one second,” Troy said, grabbing Abed’s robe to pull him close again. 

“What?” Abed whispered, his lips ghosting over Troy’s. 

“One more kiss,” Troy whispered back, his eyes already fluttering close, “for the road.”

Abed hummed. “For the road,” he repeated, and closed the distance between them.

  


***

  


“Troy,” Abed said, taking his hand as they walked away from the Gluon Chamber, admiring their photo.

“Yes, buddy?” Troy asked. 

Abed stopped in his tracks, so Troy did as well, and stared back at him. 

“Do you wanna be my boyfriend?” Abed asked. 

God, Troy thought he might have died and gone to heaven. There was no way Abed was really looking at him so tenderly, saying such sweet words. Except this was real. Abed loved him back. Holy shit. 

“More than anything else,” he breathed. 

“Cool,” Abed smiled, then raised his finger, “just one thing.” Troy nodded. “Since we’re boyfriends, you should probably stop calling me buddy, and start calling me baby instead.”

Troy’s heart skipped a beat. “Oh, of course,” he said, his voice a little strained, “ _baby_.” 

Abed licked his lips, making Troy’s brain, heart, and entire body short-circuit. 

“I like the way that sounds,” he said, and Troy just couldn’t not kiss him again. 

  


***

  


They joined Britta, Annie and Jeff after a few more minutes of kissing, and proudly showed them their picture. 

“That’s great, guys,” Britta said, then frowned, looking at Abed, “wait, didn’t you have a hat?” 

Abed turned to Troy with wide eyes, but his bewildered look quickly turned into an amused one. 

“I dropped it,” he mumbled, “anyways, in more exciting news-” Troy joined in to sing the next words with him “- _Troy and Abed are now dating!_ ” 

Britta gasped excitedly, “Finally!” 

“Good job,” Jeff muttered.

“Aw,” Annie cut in, “it’s about time!”

Abed smiled sweetly at her, then narrowed his brows and pointed at her. “Hey, where have you been all day?” 

Annie’s eyes widened for a moment, and Troy followed her gaze as she glanced at a very gorgeous person a few steps away from them- a very gorgeous person who winked at her when they locked gazes. Very interesting. 

“Oh my god,” Abed theatrically gasped, “you are unhinged.” 

“Oh, shut up!” Annie bit back, “You’re the one who looks like he had sex in one of those ugly phone booths.” 

Troy looked at him, noticing his disheveled robe, his mussed hair, his lips that looked like they had just been thoroughly kissed- which they had, by one very lucky Troy Barnes. Yeah, Annie kind of had a point. 

Nevertheless, Abed gasped again, affronted. 

“IT'S AN X-7 DIMENSIONIZER!” he yelled. 

Annie quirked an eyebrow. “So you’re not denying the rest?” 

“We didn’t have sex,” Abed mechanically answered, “we just made out a lot.” 

Britta raised her hand for a high five, “Alright, get it, Barnes!” 

“I’m not high-fiving that,” Troy mumbled, feeling his cheeks burning. 

“I’ll do it,” Abed said with a shrug. He high-fived Britta, then turned to Troy, who was staring at him with wide eyes. “What?” he asked, “You’re a really good kisser, Troy. Definitely high-five-worthy.” 

“Oh my god,” Troy groaned, “why do I find that sentence kinda sexy?” 

“Cause you’re gay,” Britta replied. 

“Cause it’s Abed,” Annie offered instead. 

Well, they both had a point.

“I hate it here,” Jeff sighed. 

“Jeff, are you gonna take your shirt off and scream _Bow before Thoraxis_?” Abed asked. 

“Why the hell would I do that?” Jeff asked with furrowed brows.

“Well, I don’t know what your storyline was this episode,” Abed shrugged, “that’s one of the possible outcomes.” 

“Not today, Abed,” Jeff said with a sigh. 

“Okay,” Abed replied, then turned towards Troy, “wanna go make out in the Spacetime Garden?”

“What do you think?” Troy asked with a grin. 

“Yes,” Abed prompted, sounding more sure than he had before. 

“Mhm,” Troy hummed, and grabbed Abed’s hand after doing their handshake. “Let’s go, baby,” he said, and let Abed guide him towards whatever the Spacetime Garden was. 

“I’m glad we worked this out,” Abed said as they walked, “it was getting really hard to hide the way I feel about you.” 

“Yeah,” Troy said, “same. That’s why I kind of pushed you away. I’m sorry about that, by the way.”

“It’s okay,” Abed replied, looking at Troy with a sweet smile, “I did the same, but things worked out in the end, didn’t they?” 

“Yeah,” Troy said, feeling a little breathless as he stared into his _boyfriend’s_ eyes, “yeah, baby, they really did.” 

They reached the Spacetime Garden, which turned out to be just a few metres of fake grass with some stuff from the show, and Abed pulled on Troy’s hand, twirling him around and into his arms in such a graceful way that Troy felt like he was dancing. 

“I love you,” he said, and Troy was really thankful Abed was holding him so tightly, otherwise he might have just fallen to the ground as he heard those magical words. “I’m really glad you’re my Constable.” 

“I love you too,” Troy whispered, winding his arms around Abed’s neck. He leaned closer, his eyes half-closed, until their lips were almost touching. “I’m glad you’re my everything,” he whispered. 

Abed’s lips touched his, softly at first, and it felt like a miracle. The kiss grew more passionate by the second, and Troy got lost in it until he felt his lungs were about to give out, and he pulled back to catch his breath. He stared into Abed’s eyes- they looked darker than usual, as if clouded by love and desire, and it was all for Troy. 

“God,” Troy breathed as he leaned in to kiss him again, “I fucking love Inspecticon.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. I hope you liked this- if you did, I would love some comment and/or kudos. That's all, folks.


End file.
